Wanted: 500,000 Ideas in the Thinkathon

Ideas to keep Singapore going for the next 20
years - that's what 8,000 people will attempt tonight, led by US motivation
guru Gerald Haman.

THE CHALLENGE: Come up with half a million
ideas in one hour.

THE GOAL: To create an ideas bank which Singapore can dip into to create a better quality of life.

THE METHOD: Put 8,000 people in the
Singapore Indoor Stadium for the world's biggest brainstorming session, and
make them believe their ideas can change a country. Sound impossible?

Don't even mention this word to American
motivationalist and ideas guru Gerald Haman.Mr Haman, who has helped boost productivity at Fortune 500 companies
like Microsoft and PriceWaterhouseCoopers, will run the ambitious Thinkathon tonight
to kick start the Productivity and Standards Board's (PSB) innovation campaign.

'For the next 20 years, we want to see
Singaporeans dare to dream, dare to do, and dare to make a difference to
improve their quality of life,' said Mr Freddy Soon, PSB's deputy chief
executive of Planning and Promotion. The board decided to bring the
motivationalist here to help keep the creativity ball rolling in the Republic.

Mr Haman, who started his Chicago-based
company, SolutionPeople, 12 years ago, is better known as Solutionman in the United States.

Solutionman is the character he assumes
when he appears at speeches and seminars. He wears a Superman suit with a light
bulb logo on his chest and carries a briefcase filled with socks - because
people who wear socks without shoes, he has proven, come up with more ideas.

Tonight, more than 100 local firms,
government institutions and schools will take part in Mr Haman's mass-thinking
session.

From 7 pm to 8 pm, people as young as 16 will answer 100 questions on 20 subjects,
including such topics as reducing student stress levels, how to make the
Government more accessible to the public, and how to make people less
materialistic. Their written suggestions
will be stored in a national ideas bank. Mr Haman, supported by some 300 helpers, hopes
to inspire people to suggest ideas which are not run-of-the-mill, but which
break the mould and have the potential to transform lives.

To break the world record for creating
ideas, each participant will have to produce an average of 130 solutions or
suggestions in just one hour.

The Thinkathon is part of a celebration to
commemorate the 20th anniversary of the productivity movement, founded by then
Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew to raise the nation's productivity levels by asking
Singaporeans to work harder and smarter. 'Back then, productivity was a dirty
word,' said Mr Soon. 'People complained about having to work harder. Now, we
earn more by working faster, and it comes naturally to us.' But to sustain
productivity growth in this innovation-driven age, a creative mindset is also
needed, he noted.'The Thinkathon will
show that everyone is creative and capable of contributing valuable ideas to
society,' said Mr Steven Tan, deputy director of the PSB innovation centre.